Agar's defiance epitomizes Aussie grit

It was just before the start of the IPL and David Warner and I were having lunch at the ITC Sonar in Kolkata. Inevitably, the Ashes came up and I said to him the one area where England has a huge edge over Australia is the spin department. There's just no comparison between Graeme Swann and Nathan Lyon. To my surprise David said, 'Mate, we've also got another spinner, Ashton Agar'. Having seen Xavier Doherty get thrashed against India, I wondered if he'd name Doherty again. When he didn't and named Agar as the man for the Ashes I was amused. David went on to say that Agar has the potential to be a complete player and I thought to myself he was making a huge mistake suggesting pitting a 19 year old left arm spinner against the likes of Ian Cook and Ian Bell. 'Who is Ashton Agar?' I asked him and he informed me that Agar had matured a lot during the tour of India after being initially sent to gain experience.

I am not for once suggesting that David Warner could predict what happened yesterday. No one in their right sense could. But the fact is the Australians did take a calculated gamble rather than just pitting a rookie out of nowhere. They were aware Agar has the talent. And with Kevin Pietersen in the opposition, Michael Clarke and Darren Lehmann went ahead with what has been the highlight of the Ashes so far, the picking of Ashton Agar.

When Agar walked into bat with the Australians reeling at 117-9, the English were going cock-a-hoop. Anderson was making the ball talk and the Australians were completely at sea against the best swing bower in the world. The ball was doing a fair bit and the dismissal of Mitchell Starc summed it up nicely. Ball pitched up, late swing and a hapless batsman edging it behind the stumps. A 100 or so run lead and all the pre-series predictions about a possible English sweep would have started to look real. Just then walked in Ashton Agar to create history. Soon after he had crossed 15 did we see the real Agar. Multiple pulls against Steven Finn, multiple drives against Swann and you could instantly see the Australian balcony outside the dressing room starting to get populated. A grim Darren Lehmann had started to smile and Pup could not stop clapping. David Warner with a new moustache was going ballistic as Agar went about turning the match on its head. It was extraordinary.

By lunch Australia were within striking distance and Agar had left the more accomplished Phil Hughes behind. At one point it was Hughes just picking up singles to give the strike back to Agar to continue his demolition act. The English field against Agar did not work and Alistair Cook stood exposed. When Agar finally got out for 98 the Australians had found voice and the cricket world had seen one of the best Ashes days in history. From 117-9 the Australians now had a lead of 64.

Agar, in many ways has already left his imprint on the series. Clarke's Australians aren't rollovers and Agar has driven that point home. With England just 15 ahead for the loss of 2 there's still a lot of cricket to be played in this Test match. The key question, however, is can the English recover from the Agar attack? Has Agar done them enough damage mentally or will we see yet another dramatic day of cricket? Will Agar now step up with the ball as well and start to exploit the rough created by the faster bowlers? It is turning out to be an intriguing Test match and thanks to Agar the start to the series could not have been any better.

Just as the English were going about rebuilding their second innings with Cook and Pietersen looking resolute did the camera pick Ashton Agar looking fidgety while fielding in the boundary. He was smiling to the galleries and looking restless. Clearly he was excited and justly so. Here was a man who had scripted himself into Ashes lore having scored the highest ever by a Test number 11. David Lloyd summed it up nicely on commentary, "And that's Ashton Agar. We now know who he is."